It is known that a trunk box (i.e., storage box) having an opening on its upper side is disposed in a cargo compartment in a rear part of an automobile. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-137392 discloses that a spare tire is stored in a trunk box disposed in a cargo compartment and that a user can store personal effects above the spare tire in the trunk box, as needed. The opening of this trunk box is covered with a cargo board. This cargo board can open and close the opening by turning around an axis provided at its front end.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-7936 discloses a cargo board capable of turning around to an open position (in which the cargo board opens an opening of a trunk box), a first hook provided on a backside of the cargo board at its rear end, and a second hook provided on a strap that is attached to a seat back of a rear seat. The cargo board is held in the open position by engaging the first hook with the second hook.
Recently, the number of SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicles) has increased. In such SUVs, dripping-wet personal effects (e.g., dripping-wet swimwear or dripping-wet marine sports equipment) are often loaded in a cargo compartment of the SUVs.
In order to prevent a floor of the cargo compartment from getting dripping-wet, it is effective to provide a trunk box (preferably a water-proof box) in the cargo compartment and to store the dripping-wet personal effects in the trunk box.
However, the dripping-wet personal effects cannot be stored completely in the trunk box in the case where there are many dripping-wet personal effects to be stored and/or in the case that the size of the dripping-wet personal effects is larger than that of the trunk box. Therefore, some dripping-wet personal effects that cannot be stored in the trunk box may reluctantly be placed on the floor of the cargo compartment. Also, large-sized dripping-wet personal effects might reluctantly be partly stored in the trunk box with one or more parts protruding from the trunk box. In these cases, water drops from the dripping-wet personal effects (which are placed on the floor or which protrude from the trunk box) may disadvantageously fall on the floor of the cargo compartment, which unfortunately may result in making the floor dripping-wet.
This invention is made so as to address this problem. A purpose of this invention is to prevent the floor of the cargo compartment from getting dripping-wet (due to water drops from dripping-wet personal effects), by enlarging the space (other than the floor) for placing dripping-wet personal effects, even when the size of the trunk box is small.